Israel Adesanya brutally trolled for using Dricus Du Plessis' 'real African' angle to pick an easy fight
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya recently issued a call out to Dricus Du Plessis in a press conference after UFC 287. While the Nigerian-born Kiwi avoided naming the South African middleweight, his callout caught the attention of Sean Strickland, who was impressed by Adesanya chasing an easy payday.
Du Plessis and Adesanya aren't on good terms because 'Stillknocks' claimed he was a more authentic African than the “Three Kings,” which is a popular moniker for the trio that consists of Israel Adesanya, Francis Ngannou, and Kamaru Usman. He also stated that he was more of an African, as Usman and Adesanya had immigrated out of Africa and grew up in the U.S and New Zealand respectively.
In a recent interview with Helen Yee, middleweight Sean Strickland brutally trolled Israel Adesanya for using Du Plessis' 'Real African' comments to call for an easy fight. He said:
"Dricus had to go and say some stupid sh*t... I don't know, not stupid sh*t about him being the real African, and then Izzy was like, 'I'm going to use that to get me a nice, easy fight because this is not UFC, this is the WWE."
However, Strickland commended 'The Last Stylebender' for his ploy at getting an 'easy win' against Dricus Du Plessis:
"Izzy, smart fu**ing move, man, fighting Dricus... think Izzy is gonna get what he wants and he's gonna have a nice, easy win and get a big old fu**ing paycheck beating up a can."
Catch Sean Strickland's comments from 4:19 onwards below:
Dricus Du Plessis 'African' comment: 'Stillknocks' responds to Israel Adesanya calling him out
Israel Adesanya clearly didn't appreciate Dricus Du Plessis' comments about his African heritage and went off on the No.6-ranked middleweight after reclaiming the middleweight title from Alex Pereira at UFC 287.
In the post-fight scrum, Israel Adesanya looked grave as he described his eagerness to teach 'Stillknocks' a lesson in respect without once naming him. He stated:
"I want to whoop his ass so bad. I want to do it in South Africa or Nigeria, but he’s got to work... You’ve got to pick your words wisely... I pray to God he keeps winning, I will gladly drag his carcass across South Africa.”
Not one to sit back and take it, Dricus Du Plessis fired back at Israel Adesanya. The South African middleweight asked 'The Last Stylebender' to walk the talk instead of making empty threats. In a recent interview on The MMA Hour, Du Plessis stated:
"For him [Israel Adesanya] saying that, does he think I’m scared of him?... Because I don’t take kindly to threats... Come and show me how you drag my carcass around... I would love to see you try."